Only in Death May We Be Together
by The Laziest Woman on Mars
Summary: Her life is perfect...she has two beautiful children with the man she loves, and nothing could be better. But on a fateful day he is taken from her, in the final battle with Voldemort. Will she ever see him again? PLEEEZE R&R!!!
1. Virginia Potter

Virginia Potter  
  
Author's Note: Thanks for reading this. It is something I came up with at 12:40 at night. I don't know if it will be any good...so just read and review and tell me what you think. Hope it isn't too sappy.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't nor have I ever owned Harry Potter and the Harry Potter enterprise.  
  
Virginia's Story  
  
I looked up into those green eyes...eyes that I had looked into so many times, for so long, that I felt as if they knew me better than I knew myself. Despite myself, I felt ashamed of the sweat beading on my forehead, how awful I must have looked. But then, Harry had never seen that. He had never cared that much about all those things that would have driven the others away.  
  
"You did wonderful." He murmured, pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes. I wanted to weep then and there...a torrent of emotion coursed through me, making me want, and need, more than I ever had before.  
  
"I love you." I whispered, reaching out to take his hand. He glanced down, and I did also. His, so strong and young, muscular from years on the Quidditch field. Mine, delicate, white. The two were intertwined on the bedsheets, holding tightly.  
  
"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I would like to present to you the new Potter twins." I glanced up as Hermione strode into the room, beaming. Ron followed, sheepishly grinning as he glanced down at the bundle he held in his arms. I saw Harry begin smiling, widely, as he reached out to take into his arms the first of his newborn children.  
  
"They're ready? You don't have to take them away for more...cleanings, or tests, or torture, or whatever it is you were doing to them?" Harry snorted. He shifted away as Hermione playfully swatted a towel at him.  
  
"They are perfect." I looked up at my brother, shocked to see the tears in his eyes. He bent over and kissed me softly on the forehead, before handing my child to me. And now I began to weep, even harder when I saw the small tuft of jet-black hair that peeked out from the blankets.  
  
"My little girl..." I whispered, pulling down the covers to look at her face. Immediately I saw that she would have her fathers eyes...from lashes too long for a newborn babe she peered out at me, those large green eyes burning a hole right into my very soul.  
  
"And here's my strapping young lad." Harry grinned, turning so that I could get a better look at my son. I laughed when I saw the violent shock of red hair, the exact vibrant fire that was shot through my own hair.  
  
"He is incredible. They both are." I said softly, reaching out one free hand to softly caress his small cheeks, his soft skin.  
  
"What are you going to name them?" Hermione asked. I looked up at her, stunned. Names? I laughed when I realized that, for the past nine months, I had been so involved in what I was doing...  
  
"I forgot names, Harry." I said, shaking my head.  
  
"That's all right..." he murmured. "I think...I think I know what they should be called." He glanced down at them, smiling. "What do you think of Ronald James Potter and Lily Hermione Potter?" he asked, grinning at his two friends.  
  
"Oh, you don't have to..." Hermione started. I cut her off.  
  
"That's perfect, Harry." I smiled. "Ronald and Lily. What do you two think, being their aunt and uncle?" I laughed to see the stunned expressions on their faces. "Don't you two think we don't realize you are something more than friends?" I asked.  
  
A grin broke out on Ron's face. "Of course you would know." Slowly he reached out to take Hermione's hand, both of them blushing like it was the first time either had ever been with another person.  
  
'This is...perfection.' I whispered to myself. Little did I know how much my life would change...  
  
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"They're coming." I glanced up from the two children playing on the floor.  
  
"What do you mean?" I asked, the fear obvious in my voice.  
  
"I can see them, on the rise just over the hill." He murmured, running to the desk to pick up his wand. "Summon Ron and the others quickly!" he said fiercely. I looked into his eyes nervously...they did not glow with the same warm, familiar light. I knew...I knew something was about to change forever.  
  
"All right." I whispered, walking swiftly over to the cabinet. I glanced at Harry anxiously as he paused at the doorway.  
  
"Virginia..." he muttered, turning back. I smiled, despite myself. He always called me Virginia...even though I had always disliked the name, its formal stiffness, it had always sounded like music coming from his lips.  
  
"Yes?" I said, shaking my head.  
  
"I...I'm going. I can feel him...Voldemort is here."  
  
"What?" I cried. "He's...here? But...don't go, Harry. Don't you dare go alone!" I screamed. Ron and Lily looked up, crying.  
  
"I have to...I have no choice." Harry said darkly. "If I don't go now, he might come here. I won't let him harm you. Not you, and not the children."  
  
"But what about you?" I hissed, bending down to take Ronald and Lily into my arms. "What if..."  
  
"I have to take the chance." Feeling the tears rising in my eyes, I stood, walking to his side. I slipped my hand into his.  
  
"But I couldn't stand to lose you, Harry." I murmured. "I don't...I don't want to say goodbye."  
  
"Then we won't say goodbye." He said, smiling softly. "Right now...we'll just say that we'll see each other again." He kissed me softly, lightly caressing my lips.  
  
He pulled away and looked into my eyes once more...seeing the fear I sighed, pulling away. "Virginia, if I don't come back..."  
  
"Don't you dare say that." I said, angrily. He shook his head.  
  
"No...don't stop me. If I don't come back, please...tell my children that I loved them. Tell them that...tell them that I will miss them, wherever I am." I shook my head.  
  
"I'll never say it, because you are coming back, Harry." I said stubbornly. He sighed as he slipped out of the door.  
  
"I hope you're right. I hope to God that you are right."  
  
I waited only a moment before throwing the powder into the fire. "Ron! Remus, Sirius, Severus! Albus!" I hesitated a moment before calling Hermione's name, also. After a moment they all stumbled out of the fire. Dumbledore looked into my eyes, nodding.  
  
"He's here, isn't he?" I nodded, feeling the tears that coursed down my cheeks.  
  
"Harry...go quickly. He went by himself. I haven't looked. I'm too...I'm too afraid." They all nodded at me. Severus even placed his hand on my shoulder, and I looked up, smiling softly. He had always been so cold, until he had found his love. Now he was one of us...loathe as Harry and Ron had been at first to admit it.  
  
They all left, leaving me alone with my children. I crossed over to them. Lily protested for a moment before letting me scoop her into my lap. Ronald eagerly reached out his arms to let me bring him up with us. They were a year old now, two bright-eyed children who explored their world and found new things, things that I had never even found. The love that pulsated through me at that moment gave me a brief release from what I knew was happening outside my very doors.  
  
It was the final battle; it could be nothing else. The entire magic world, both light and dark witch and wizard, had been anticipating this day for so long...since Voldemort took all that was left of the world, except Hogwarts. Never Hogwarts. Harry had been chosen to lead this day...I knew that. Just as I knew there was little chance I would ever look into his bright emerald eyes ever again.  
  
"Hush, my child." I whispered as Lily quailed. "Soon everything will be at peace. Soon you shall be able to go out into the world, and be happy."  
  
I was sitting this way, with my babies held tightly in my lap, when I felt the earth shake. I froze when it happened again and rushed to the window. Never...never had something held me in such thrall, for I saw what it was that was being done. I saw it and was unable to believe it.  
  
They held him in a circle. Harry, leading them, with Dumbledore at his side, held every witch and wizard who had been hiding in the area, along with the ones I had summoned, in a circle with Voldemort at the center. The Death Eaters lay, dead and dying, scattered across the earth.  
  
Voldemort...when did I learn to say his name without fear?...he lay on the grass, clenching his head with those spindly hands. The sun was shining brightly overhead, down on them all.  
  
"You murdered my brother." I heard Ron say angrily, and though wearily of George. So young...I still was unable to believe he was gone. "For that you shall pay." I heard him say in muted anguish.  
  
"You forced me into your web of deceit." I heard Severus snarl. "For that you shall pay."  
  
"You took away my closest friend. You took away my only family." Remus said, his voice toneless. "For that you shall pay."  
  
"You took my family also." Sirius mumbled. "It was you and your followers that forced me into prison for twelve empty years. You ruined all that I had." He said, clenching his jaw. "For that, you must pay. And you will."  
  
And finally, Harry stepped forward. His list of grievances so long...what could he ever say?  
  
"You destroyed us all." Harry muttered. "For that, you will die." He raised his wand, But at that moment...  
  
"No!" I cried angrily, seeing the flash of green from the corner of my eyes. Leaving my children, I rushed out the door. "Harry!" He glanced up, his green eyes shining ethereally, before the curse hit him. He slumped slowly to the ground, but not before his own magic worked its last. The gold beams shot from his wand, his body, and the earth around him.  
  
Voldemort shook as the beams coursed around and through him. We all watched as he shrunk...when the last of the gold faded into the sky we all saw him for what he was.  
  
He looked up at us, his face shrunken and ancient. Not wise, like Dumbledore's...just devoid of life and anything resembling humanity. Dumbledore rose his own wand, tears gleaming in his blue eyes, and prepared to end Voldemort, then and there, but it was no use. Voldemort simply vanished, his body crumbling to dust before us. I froze for a second before tearing my glance from the ash on the ground and gazing on all that remained of my love.  
  
"No!" I cried, rushing over and falling to my knees. I placed my hand on his cheek. His green eyes stared blankly and unseeing into the sky. I didn't need to look up to know who the traitor was. I could hear Sirius and Remus going after him now. The only reason Peter had even lived these many years was because Harry had saved his life, preventing them from killing him. But Harry was gone...he wasn't here to stop Sirius and Remus from doing with Peter what they would.  
  
"Harry...you promised this wasn't goodbye..." I whispered. "Why did you have to leave me?" I shivered a moment, holding tightly to his hand. It was cold, like ice...why did he have to be cold? Why take Harry, I cried in my heart. Why not take me instead? Or any of us? Why Harry?  
  
"It needed to happen." Dumbledore said, walking to my side, looking down at Harry. I saw his own tears coursing down his face as he knelt, placing a hand over Harry's face to close his bright green eyes for the final time.  
  
"But why?" I whispered. "Why now? Why ever? His children need him...I need him." I murmured, struggling to fight the tears.  
  
"We needed him." Dumbledore said. "Harry always had a choice...I think he chose this, Ginny, to do something nobody else could have done."  
  
"And what was that?" I said softly.  
  
"Protect his family. Make this world safer for you, and your children."  
  
I glanced up at him and nodded, standing, letting Harry's hand fall from mine. "Until I see you again, my love." I whispered, placing my hand over my lips and letting the kiss fall to the earth at his side.  
  
"Ginny? Are you..." Ron walked up to my side, fear on his features. I nodded...it had to be all right.  
  
"Yes, Ron. And..." I froze for a moment, looking back at Harry as he lay on the earth. "Don't call me Ginny. That isn't me...call me Virginia."  
  
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Please don't forget me. My name is Virginia Weasley Potter, and I have lived a long, happy life. I have missed having my love by my side...I don't think I shall ever get over the pain of losing Harry. But without him I have lived...I have lived knowing that someday we will meet again.  
  
My son and daughter are magnificent creatures, I have so much to say. What Harry might have done, knowing his only daughter became a Snape, I could only guess. But she had married the son Severus had borne with his wife...even though it was a surprise. None of us could have guessed that the head of Slytherin house would himself have married a muggle.  
  
But Lucas has taken care of Lily. I must admit, those first years with her were trying...she has struggled so much, pulling against me. Sometimes I think I challenged her by pulling back too hard, but I was too afraid of losing her to let her go. I was only too surprised to discover that when I finally let her go, she came back to me. She always comes back.  
  
Ronald, like his uncle, has a temper. But he is, as always, incredible. I have missed seeing what Harry might have thought to see his son like this...captain of the British Quidditch team, winners of the world cup. Later, a devoted father of three. I still cannot believe that my children's children are now parents themselves.  
  
For, you see, I am old. I have lived a long life, as I said before. A long happy life. I can only imagine what joys I might have felt if for this life I had been able to share these events with the only man that I have ever loved. I still remember the feel of his hand on mine, and the warmth of those bright eyes. I still remember everything that he was to me, and everything that he shall ever be.  
  
He would be so happy to know that Lily and Ronald are with me now. I know it hurts them to see me like this...old and weak. Ronald has forever been by my side...he always needed me more than Lily, I think, because of his father's legacy. But they are here with me, as I said, waiting.  
  
I don't know what I wait for anymore. The time has come, I know, when my life has run its course. It is nearing its end...I have no more time to waste, holding on to illusion. No, my life was never perfect...but its closest were those few years I had with Harry.  
  
But as I lay in bed, wasting away to nothing, I can remember those years and bring them back to me, bring back every soft touch that Harry ever laid on my cheek, every soft word he ever said. I miss him, but in my dreams he is as real to me as he will ever be.  
  
Looking in the mirror in the mornings, I have slowly seen my hair change to white, and the soft, firm, rosy skin of youth fade to brown, and sagging, aged. I have imagined Harry laughing at my criticisms of myself, telling me I am beautful.  
  
Even now when I wake in the morning, I turn and expect him to be there at my side. I feel empty every time when I see that he is not there.  
  
But I know...I know my time has passed. I look one final time at my children...my son and daughter, the most perfect beings in creation. I watch them as they watch me dying, and let my hand fall from theirs as the remaining life ebbs out of me and back into the earth from where it came.  
  
Looking back from my bed, I see myself laying there. Lily and Ronald are both weeping...they will miss me, I know. I only wish that they might have been able to miss their father in the same way, without him being some unearthly shadow, some legend connected to their names.  
  
"They will be fine, Virginia." He whispers. I turn and smile as I look into the bright green eyes I hadn't seen for one hundred years.  
  
"Harry...is that really you?" I murmur. He steps forward...looking young as he did the day he died...and took my hand.  
  
"I am here...I am with you, as I have always been." He pulls me into his arms and holds me, holds me as we had held each other when we first fell into one another's embrace.  
  
"Can't you stand to be with me?" I murmur. "I am old, and you..."  
  
He pulls away, holding my hand. He lifts it to his lips and softly caresses it with his lips. I gasp, seeing that I now have that same firm, beautiful skin I was so vainly proud of when I was younger.  
  
"Harry...?" I murmur. "Is this heaven?"  
  
"Heaven has always been where you were." He says quietly, pulling me back closer to him. "I love you, Virginia, as I always have and always will."  
  
"Why did you leave me?" I said quietly.  
  
"Because I could not have born it if you or our children had left me." He mutters, running a hand through my hair. "And besides, so long as you remembered me...held on to me, Virginia...so long as you held on, I have always been in your heart."  
  
I look up at him, into those bright green eyes. "We never said goodbye." I mutter.  
  
"And we never did...and here, now we see each other again, as I promised you we would."  
  
I look around us as we are bathed in the bright golden light. Shapes emerge from the light, shapes I had long gone without seeing. My brother, Ron...Severus...Sirius and Remus, smiling as if they were still boys...and there, on the edge of my sight, Lily and James, Harry's parents...  
  
"I think I should introduce you to somebody." He saus quietly. He leads me by the hand to them, and I feel in my heart what I have always known.  
  
Only in death could we be together. Only in death.  
  
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	2. Lily Hermione Snape

Lily Hermione Potter  
  
Author's Note: I know a few of you asked me for a continuation of this story...thanks for caring so much! I have decided to do as you wish, but it will not be Harry and Virginia in the afterlife...instead it will be each different character coping with the Harry Potter legacy, every different character learning what it means to be a part of the legend. I hope you like this part...Lily Hermione Potter is based somewhat on me, I think she is a great character. Her attitude is a mixture of her father's noble spirit coupled with a Weasley temper...here you go!  
  
Disclaimer: Alas! Ear wax...oh yeah, and I don't own Harry Potter.  
  
"Lily, you look beautiful." I glanced up at mum...tears were twinkling in her eyes as she watched me...she was so proud. I flushed and glanced down at the floor.  
  
"It's just graduation...it's not like it's my wedding or something." I muttered, keeping my eyes on the floor. I knew that she had waited a long time for this day, and despite the fact that I feel so uncomfortable here, there is no way I could possibly ruin this for her...she's worked so hard to raise me and Ronald, all by herself...  
  
That's one reason I don't think that I could ever forgive my father. He abandoned us...not in the traditional sense, I know. I suppose what he did was noble...he's a legend, now. There are those that knew him...I was never one of those people. I only know what mum has told me and what I've been taught in History of Magic...it's a funny feeling, having to learn about your own dad in class.  
  
I am Lily Hermione Potter...and my father was none other than the renowned Boy-Who-Lived, the Man who rid the world of the evil that was Voldemort...to me he is nothing but a shadow, a name, a monument to something greater than I am, or will ever be.  
  
"Mum, you better get to Ronald." I said, flushing again. She smiled before placing her hand on mine one final time and heading towards my brother, who grinned and threw an arm casually around her neck.  
  
The Gryffindors graduated last...it was the Slytherins first, followed by the Hufflepuffs and then the Ravenclaws. I stood there in my scarlet and gold robes, watching as my friends roam around, laughing. Sarah was laughing, holding her father's arm. The tradition goes that all the father's escort the daughters, and the mothers take the sons. Mum will take Ronald, she'll walk him across as he gets his diploma from Headmistress McGonagall...but I don't have a father.  
  
"There she is...there's my girl." I couldn't help but grin when I heard Uncle Ron laugh from across the hall. I ran into his arms...he was taking my father's place today. From over his shoulder I see the rest of them...Uncles Bill, Charlie, and the twins, Fred and George. I guess Uncle Ron tried to take my father's place when he died...but it just wasn't the same. It broke my heart to see his own children come to him...but that is how things go in my life. Secondhand love from my mother, who could never love me or my brother without thinking of her husband, secondhand fame from my father, because everybody fawns over me, being a Potter, and a secondhand father...who loved me as much as he can, but has his own children to care for. I hated that.  
  
The minutes passed...long minutes. Ronald was standing behind me, poking his namesake in the back as mum teasingly swatted at his hand. In front of me was that one boy who I had always cared for, and been too afraid to say anything to...Lucas Snape.  
  
It was funny, really. Lucas is so much like his father, and then again he's nothing like him at all. Severus is an old friend of the family, though it didn't used to be that way. Severus taught my father at school, and I've heard that he hated him...just like he hated my grandfather, yet another faceless entity, back in their own shared school days.  
  
It amused me, I think...my father, the legend, and here was this man I've known for so long, who's really kind when you get to know him, if a bit cold at first...and he took so many points from the legend, and got into so many scuffles with him, you would have thought my father would forget Voldemort and do battle with him instead! Then again, I know Severus changed when he married...but I still think he was disappointed that his own son became a Gryffindor, when he himself is head of Slytherin...of course, he mustn't be so prejudiced now, as he is next in line to be headmaster, when McGonagall retires...  
  
But I was startled out of those thoughts when McGonagall called his name. He turned and winked at me as his mother started leading him out across the stage...looking pale, as she always did around magic people. She's muggle herself, I think it gave her a shock to realize her husband was not only a wizard, he was also a teacher at a prestigious magic school. I blushed--- hopefully, Lucas had already turned around and didn't see.  
  
Soon I was back to myself, though. "Potter, Lily Hermione!" I looked forward and felt my stomach churn as McGonagall looked at me expectantly. I took a step forward, and then another...finally the momentum kicked in and I started walking. Uncle Ron let go of my arm as I took the final step towards the table. She handed me my plaque as I handed her my wand.  
  
She smiled at me as she held it high. After a moment thousands of gold sparks flew from its tip...I knew this was it. She had just shattered the contact that made it possible for the ministry to detect my wand magic...I was now a free witch. I turned...my mother was openly weeping now, and Ronald was clapping hard, whistling. I grinned and nodded my head to the crowd below...though I know I'm only getting the applause because of who I am. They expect great things out of me, being the daughter of Him.  
  
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I looked at myself in the mirror, smiling dreamily. I knew I must look at a fool, staring at myself in a half-dazed state, but who cared? I was getting married...  
  
The robes were perfection...my mother had worn them on her wedding day, as had her mother before her. They were plain, embroidered with silvery thread that shimmered and glittered in the light, almost like an invisibility cloak. I've seen one, of course...my brother got in when he entered Hogwarts, though I must admit I snuck it out of his trunk quite a few times, though mostly just to sneak to Hogsmeade through the passages my Uncles Gred and Forge (they force me to call them that) showed me.  
  
I turned---she was standing there, with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione standing next to her. "Hello," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, even though inside I knew I must have been gelatin...I was shaking and shivering so.  
  
"Lily...you are incredible." Mum said, her voice trembling. Despite myself I ran to her side and held her close, before pulling away and kissing her on the cheek.  
  
"Mum, I feel incredible. This is the most wonderful day..."  
  
"I know, darling." She smiles. "I remember my own wedding day. I felt like a princess...your father said I looked like an angel."  
  
"I can just imagine." I say softly, though it pains me that today, of all days, the conversation has to turn to...him.  
  
"I wish he was here." Uncle Ron said, putting his arm around my waist. "I can only think what he would be like...he always was a noble man. Though I dare say the idea of you marrying a Snape would put him on edge."  
  
"Put him on edge?" Aunt Hermione scoffed. "More like he'd steal Sirius' flying motorcycle and try to get her to fly with him to America." She grinned.  
  
"Not that I would allow it." Mum said sternly. "My baby's getting married...I can't believe that in an hour you won't be mine anymore." She grinned. "To heck with it...darling, why don't we take the motorbike and fly away to America."  
  
I shook my head, trying to hold back the tears. "Nope...Lucas would be disappointed. I don't know what he'd do without me." I teased.  
  
Ron kissed me softly on the cheek. "Lily, I don't know what any of us would do without you. You aren't the sweetest little girl in the world...but you sure are the most fun."  
  
"Thanks." I said, no longer fighting the tears that inevitably streamed down my face.  
  
The shortest and also the longest hour of my life later, I found myself by Lucas' side. He was honestly the most handsome man I think that I have ever met. His straight black hair was pulled and bound at the nape of his neck and he wore dark black robes edged with silver. And his eyes...I looked into them, into those deep blue depths and felt myself falling, falling, endlessly...  
  
I only wish...my father may have been naught but a legend to me, but I wish that he were here.  
  
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My mother lay on the bed, breathing what I knew would be her last breaths. Her silver hair was fanned around her face, and she looks up at me with those warm brown eyes...the only thing that has remained the same about her in these long, long years.  
  
She said nothing...I knew she was only waiting. Soon she would leave me forever...it was a thought that I could not bear to think of. Ronald was sitting at my side, clutching my hands. He held tight as mum began to draw in breath after shuddering breath. Lucas is not here...I did not wish him to be.  
  
I knew what it was to grow old. I had long since passed my youth, and now...now the twenty-three years that separated me and my mother seemed like nothing. "I love you, mum." I whispered, holding tightly to her hand.  
  
It was too late, though. She had gone already. I felt my body begin to tremble and quake...Ronald was holding me, letting me fall into his chest. "Shh...quiet, Lily." He murmured, holding me tighter. "Mum is happy, now. She can go on...she can go to dad, now. They haven't seen one another in so long, Lily. She can finally be with him."  
  
I dried my tears and looked into Ronald's face. He smiled down at me wearily. "I can't stand this." I said hoarsely, feeling my body shake. "I can't stand not having her here, with me. She held us together...even when we never had a father, she was everything. And now she's..." I froze, unable to say it.  
  
"It is all right, darling." He said quietly, stroking my hair. "She is happy...she was happy here, but it was never what it could have been. She knew love, Lily, like we know. She lost it so young...she has been so strong. Be brave for her...be happy that she is with our father once again."  
  
I nodded...it felt so odd, being almost like a child there with my brother, when we ourselves had grandchildren, grandchildren already nearing that age where they themselves would soon be bearing their own babes.  
  
"Yes...I know Ronald." He held me tighter, letting me cling to him. I missed mum already...  
  
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I will not let myself be forgotten. My name is Lily Hermione Potter-Snape. The legend, Harry Potter, was my father. But I never met him...he died when I was only a baby. I never got to know him, or find out anything about him...it is something which still makes me feel empty, as if a part of me that should have been filled long ago was forgotten, and left empty.  
  
Lucas is standing here with me. It is our granddaughter's wedding...it feels so odd saying that. Lucas and I have lived long together...we are happy. I guess it is kind of funny, in a far-off, sad way, that my granddaughter is following in my footsteps and doing what, to my father, would have been the unthinkable.  
  
She is marrying a Malfoy...the grandson of Draco Malfoy and his wife, Pansy. Unlike Severus, who became as much a father to me as my Uncle Ron, Draco never became what we consider a light wizard. He had too much of his own father in him to ever do that. But I approve of his son, Marcus. He is a worthy boy...he will do my Alicia well, I believe.  
  
I do not think I will live much longer. I can feel it in my bones. I have tried telling Lucas, but he does not understand. He thinks that I am being a silly old woman, and tells me so. I admit that, to this day, he still is able to make me laugh.  
  
In our youth I remember, we used to be so active. I think we caused more havoc as newlyweds in our village than any child ever did, which is saying something as both my uncles Gred and Forge lived there, with their wives and five sons apiece. Lucas used to roam about, finding odd knickknacks that he knew would please me, while I played the typical young housewife and made quite as many mistakes as I did triumphs.  
  
We had two daughters...Samantha and Virginia, who we called Ginny after the name my mother used to use in her youth. They were beautiful girls...they are still beautiful.  
  
But it pains me to think of the past and what once was. Lucas has gotten downtrodden, same as me. He likes to joke and say we are like an old pair of mules, stubborn, relentlessly carrying our shared burdens through life. He has a limp in legs that used to run about, and his back is bent, a strong back that once was able to lift me, to lift me over the stars.  
  
I miss what was. Lucas loves me, I know, as much as he did when we first met at Hogwarts. Shifting glances at me in class, even under his father's eye flirting like the typical boy that he was. He sees me now as he always did...and despite the gray I see in the mirror and the tired circles around my eyes, I know that I am beautiful.  
  
But I cannot help but feel the burden of my years. Every day that passes, I think I get weaker and weaker. This morning I could barely stand to get out of bed, but I knew that I must come today...it was the most important day. After today, the last of my children, of my grandchildren shall be taken care of. After today I am free...  
  
As Alicia leaves, holding tightly to Marcus' arm, I watch, feeling myself tremble. "I wish her all the happiness that she should ever know." I whisper to Lucas, leaning into his shoulder.  
  
"Yes, my darling...I wish her also a love like ours...a love to span all time. A love that knows no bounds." I look up into his eyes...for what I know is the final time. I gaze into those deep blue depths and feel myself slowly sinking, away.  
  
"Goodbye..." I whisper, as my hand falls slack in his. He freezes for a moment before he realizes what is happening.  
  
"Lily? Lily, what are you doing? Wake up, Lily. Wake up!" He pleads with me as he lowers me to the grass...it is a quiet place, outside the back of the home that we have shared for the past eight decades. I watch as he holds me, weeping. It is over, I think sadly.  
  
"My love..." I hold up my hand in his direction, and jump when I feel a touch upon mine. I turn swiftly..."Oh, God...mum..."  
  
She stands there before me, looking not a day older than the old pictures she used to show me, of her holding hands with my father. "Mum, you're here...you're here with me...I never realized how beautiful you used to look, how young..."  
  
"Look at yourself, my sweet." She whispered, caressing my cheek with her once again soft, smooth hands. I wander to the small stream at the side of this knoll and see my reflection...as young and soft as the day I married.  
  
"Is this what it is always like?" I say dreamily.  
  
Mum smiles. "That I cannot answer, love." I wander to her side, letting her take my hand.  
  
"Lucas...will....will he find me when he comes, mother?" I ask, looking back at him. Oh, it aches so, to see him there...he is old, now...I cannot bear to imagine this.  
  
"You will always find one another...for love always comes to you, my sweet...even in death." And as she says this an unearthly figure comes to her, a man I had seen only in old pictures, and known only in legend.  
  
"Father..." I whisper. He smiles at me, a quirky grin...one that I recognize as my own.  
  
"You were right, Virginia...she is beautiful." My father reaches out and tucks a strand of loose hair behind my ear. In a moment we are bathed in a bright light. "I have watched you for so many years, Lily. You are everything I ever hoped for in a daughter...I am sorry that we lost so many years."  
  
"It is all right, father." I say hoarsely, reaching out to take his hand. Everything about him is like I ever heard, the scar and the untidy hair like mine, but he is so much more...he is love, and everything that I ever wanted...  
  
He was home.  
  
In a moment, the others come to surround us. I recognize them at once...Severus, and there on the edge of the circle I see Uncle Bill, and Charlie...and Fred and George, also. But I freeze the moment when I see the rest...Uncle Ron and Hermione and there, even my grandmother and grandfather...my mother's parents...  
  
And even, on the edge of my visions, the first and not the last to die...my father's mother and father.  
  
"Is this the place where dreams come true?" I whisper softly, letting myself fall into my father arms."  
  
"It is the place we come to when our times have ended and we are finally allowed to love, without the pain and the ache of those that brought evil among us." My father whispered, looking into my eyes.  
  
"Then this is heaven." I sigh. The warmth that bathes me lets me know that this is as it should have been.  
  
And this is how it will always be.  
  
Only in death could I know my father...only in death could we be together. Only in death.  
  
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	3. Severus Snape

Severus Snape  
  
Author's Note: Hah! I made you cry...manipulating emotions is always fun. *sigh* Well, anyway, I hope you are liking this story, even though it is not really a story in the usual form. This chapter is over Severus Snape, who despite certain evil tendencies is the greatest teacher ever! Sort of...WELL, tell me what you think, and I hope you like!  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned HP, I wouldn't be sitting here on my old computer writing fanfiction. Unless I have serious issues.  
  
~*~  
  
I looked at the small vial of black liquid, staring deep into its shadowy depths. I nestled the concoction in the palm of my hand, feeling the ice- cold emanating from it biting at my skin. 'I have bottled death.' I thought wearily. 'Is this how things have come to pass, that my life shall end here, in my office unnoticed? Am I to die alone?'  
  
But of course I would. I was nothing...and they were everything. They that walked the halls of this school, even in those days hating me so much...and what ever did I do to them? I was not what they thought I was...but neither then was I what anybody expected me to be.  
  
Shuddering, I uncapped the vial. Black steam rose from the surface and I brought it to my lips. The scent of death lingered in my nose as I imagined it...how the liquid would course from my lips down my throat and into my stomach, and from there seep into my veins, until finally it consumed every part of my body, until I too was as cold as the infernal icy mixture.  
  
I had only to take one sip and it would all be over...day after day of endless, mindless torture, knowing what I am, what I was...knowing what I will be. When the war has ended, neither side will remember me...to them I was a traitor, worthy only of being killed. To Dumbledore, I was one to be trusted and also one to go along in shadow, and when darkness fell, they were watching me, because they knew I was once one of them.  
  
The poison shuddered at my fingertips. I looked into its depths and with a tortured, feral cry...one of anguish, not of triumph, I threw hard the vial against the stone walls so that it shattered. Another die, I passed the test...my only question was, would I make it the next?  
  
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I stood shivering in the muggle village, looking at the streets with a mixture of anger an annoyance. It was a petty task, and I know why Dumbledore sent me here...it is because he knows that I will do anything he wishes. It is only because of him that my life is intact...I owe him everything. It is the one reason I do not end this infernal hell now...I respect Dumbledore too much to do so.  
  
Taking slow steps I reached the place known as the Gray Duck...a stupid name for a tavern. Merry bells jingled at the door as I stepped inside and it gave me some small pleasure to see the people pale slightly as I walked inside---the merry tintinnabulation of the bells contrasted greatly to my demeanor. But I did not wish to display a false persona in a world full of already false people...I was what I was.  
  
I sat when I reached the bar. A slight woman walked nervously up to me and, in a distinctly American accent, asked, "May I get you anything, sir?" I shook my head...I wasn't interested in drink, or food. Certainly not in amusement. I came to retrieve the information that the scum Pettigrew...he who we all had thought dead...claims to have for us. I was not afraid...I did not think it possible that Pettigrew had the fortitude to carry out a skilled attack. How wrong I was.  
  
I had not been sitting there but a moment when a blast resounded from the entrance. I turned quickly, as did every other person in the bar. The woman who had spoken earlier shrieked loudly and took a sharp step backward, colliding with the wall.  
  
Standing sharply, I faced the three of them...death-eaters, all. They did not bother to wear masks, even---the world was overrun by them now, so that even the muggles feared them, though uncertain what these people who suddenly populated their cities and towns were.  
  
"Snape..." Lucius sneered as he took a step forward, "I asked you where your loyalties lay, and you chose the doddering old fool. You shall pay. CRUCIO!" Pain like a thousand upon a thousand needles being imbedded into my flesh collapsed me onto the floor. I could not breath, I could not even begin to remember who or what I was. The woman's continued shrieks were silenced...when Lucius ended the torture, I saw she had been hit hard across the face by another, a woman I recognized as a former student of mine...she sneered at me smugly.  
  
I stood jerkily, waiting for the torture that did not come. Instead they forced upon me a torture ten times worse. Wrenching my wand from my hands, he threw it aside and as I stood, helpless, bleeding from the torture, he turned on the first muggle and said quickly the curse that would end his life.  
  
And so it went. I tried to make him stop, but the Cruciatus curse had left me so weak I was barely able to stand. I glanced back. The woman was huddled against the wall, weeping as she watched the slaughter. And it was then that I saw Lucius' eye turn on her. But I knew...I knew if I let this woman die, I would be forever damned. So as he raised his wand, I threw myself in front of her. Before the strike of Avada Kedavra hit, my world had already gone black.  
  
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"Sir?" I glanced up, unable to comprehend where I was. The woman was crouched over me, tears streaming down her face. "Are you awake?"  
  
Moaning, I leaned up. I could feel the blood that coursed down my cheek, emanating from my scalp. She cried out in alarm and softly touched the wound. "Get me...my bag." I muttered, feeling pain from deep within me. The last thing I remembered was Lucius raising his wand...did he not intend for us to die?  
  
"Is this it?" she said, shaking as she handed me my pouch. I took it harshly from her and ripped the bag open. Several vials filled with liquids from shimmering white to blue to red glowed in front of me. I opened a green one and poured it down my throat. Warmth tingled down my body and in an instant, the pain had lessened to the dull throb of a toothache.  
  
"What...what are you?" I looked up at her---she was staring at me with larger-than-life sapphire blue eyes, and her hair was loose down her back. I debated finding my wand and using a memory charm, but couldn't find it in me to make the effort so, against everything I had ever been taught, I did the last thing I think I would ever intend to do.  
  
I told her the truth. "I'm a wizard." I said as I stood shakily to my feet. "So were all those who attacked today...you muggles, you don't understand...there's a war going on under your very watch, and you don't even know."  
  
"I do now." She said hesitantly. "But...but you saved me." She whispered. I turned quickly.  
  
"I did it because I do not wish to leave here knowing I let innocents die. I did all that I could...and I still do not know why we both lived. Do you know what happened?"  
  
She nodded faintly. "I...he used some spell, or started to, but before he finished it, some man rushed in. He...he stopped it. But something black came out of his wand, and struck the both of us...it hit you harder, though." She shivered as I glanced over at the door and saw suddenly what she had meant.  
  
"God..." I said as I walked over and stood over the now still form of another of my students...a sandy-haired lad by the last name Finnigan...I had never learned his first name, or if I did I don't remember it. He was a Gryffindor. I knew the effects when the Avada Kedavra was left unfinished...instead of death, it brought pure energy. I knew I was lucky to escape with what minimal injuries I had, most likely because the muggle and I had shared the blow.  
  
"Is he...is he dead?" She asked softly, glancing at Finnigan. I said nothing and walked over slowly. I felt the slow steady pulse of life still beating in his veins and nodded slowly.  
  
"Give me a white potion." I asked quickly. She walked to the bag and with trembling fingers withdrew the elixir. She walked over and handed it to me...I felt her hands, cold, cold as ice.  
  
"Will...will he live?" she asked, tears streaming freely down her face as I did my best to bring him to. I had no need to answer her questions. No sooner had the first ounce of liquid gone down his throat than he moved slightly, his eyes blinking open. He glanced up...I saw that he tried to speak but he was in pain. Carefully I helped him to his feet and led him to a chair...I saw both his gaze and that of the woman fleeting over the countless dead bodies on the floor.  
  
"Finnigan...are you all right?" I asked quickly. "What did you do?"  
  
"I...I made him stop. He was in the middle of the curse when I got here...I used expelliarmus, it was weak but it was enough to stall him. And by the time he recovered enough to finish the spell, he had gotten a summons. They all left." I glanced down at my arm, hearing this, and saw it was true. The Dark Mark...my past, my curse, was black and I only now noticed that of all the pains throbbing through me this was one of the worst.  
  
"Thank...thank you." It was hard to say that, of all things. I was not one to give thanks...Finnigan apparently saw that as well and gave me a faint smile.  
  
"Yes...of course." He stood weakly, his wand still clutched in his hand...I don't think he ever let it go. "I have to go see Harry...tell him of this. You'll tell Dumbledore, won't you?"  
  
I nodded. In an instant he had apparated out. I heard the woman shriek and turned around quickly. She was staring at me. I took a step towards her and she backed away quickly, stumbling into the bar. "Madam..." I said, somewhat coldly. "I am not here to hurt you."  
  
"But what are you?" she said, shivering. "Are you really a wizard? You're not just---saying that?"  
  
"There are many things in this world that non-magical people do not understand." She looked up at me.  
  
"I understand much, sir." She whispered. "And I know one thing...whatever you are, whoever...I thank you. For letting me have my life."  
  
I don't know what made me do it but I never found the strength in me to perform the memory charm on her. I stayed with her well through the night, helping her reclaim the mess of her tavern. It frightened me that I was so impressed with her  
  
She had strength I had never before seen in a muggle, and even when the ministry officials arrived to take those that had died, she was straight with them. I often wondered afterwards if they didn't realize she was in fact a muggle, she seemed so nonchalant about the magic being used. But I saw through her façade. She was so fragile on the inside, and a part of me wanted to heal all her pain and suffering...  
  
And I also knew I was a damn fool for feeling that way. I thought at the time it was respect. Little did I know...little did I know how much that woman would change my life.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Sarah was lying beside me, her hair fanned out on the pillow. 'What did I do to deserve this...I am not good enough for her.' I thought angrily. In her sleep she smiled faintly, the light dancing across her face.  
  
I don't yet know what she saw in me, but whatever it was it is something I have never seen...it is something I doubt I ever will see. But she is here with me now, and it makes my stomach churn when I think that she has somehow learned to love me, despite what I am...despite her fear of all things magic, and knowing that I once supported the darkest side of magic that ever reigned.  
  
And I myself was in love. It was so pathetic, I couldn't help but feel alive whenever she was near. And yet, the pain still consumed me. That is why I was going to leave her that night. Here in her home, in the muggle village. I was going to tell her that it was over...I didn't know how, another woman, or by threatening her even, so that she would never come looking for me. But I got caught up in feeling, and when I saw her I couldn't help but let my emotions control me...and I was now caught in a fate far worse than anything I ever knew.  
  
I looked at her, touching her soft cheek. She stirred against me, raising up her hand to lie on my shoulder. Reluctantly I got out of bed. She moved, but did not wake. Walking slowly I reached her living room and suddenly realized what I had to do. I had waited so long to take my life, and I would do it now, before I could hurt her as I had done with so many others...before I could let her hurt me.  
  
Reaching into my cloak I withdrew the vial...like the one I had sat in my office with those weeks before. This was it, I knew...there was no turning back tonight. I glanced out of the window and saw the moon shining brightly in the sky. "Farewell, my love." I whispered as I uncapped the bottle and brought it tremblingly to my lips.  
  
Ice began to pour into my stomach. From far away I heard screaming. I jerked back when she slapped the poison from my hands. My vision, which had begun to grow hazy, came clear slowly. Sarah was sitting on her heels in front of me, clutching my face with her hands.  
  
"Severus...why were you going to do that?" she whispered. I looked into her eyes and, for the first time in twenty years, wept.  
  
She held me closer, folding her arms tightly around me. "I love you, Severus. Don't you dare think you can leave me." I glanced up. Her head was bowed and she was looking down at me, tears streaming down her face.  
  
"I...I don't want to hurt you." I said simply.  
  
"Then simply be with me, love." She whispered. I held her tighter and we sat that way until the sun rose into the sky.  
  
She was asleep, head resting on my chest, when I said the words that, at that time, that part of my life, I thought never to say.  
  
"Sarah...will you...will you be with me forever?"  
  
I thought she was asleep...I was wrong. She glanced up with me, tears shining in her eyes, and slowly nodded.  
  
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I do not care if I am forgotten. I am Severus Snape. I have lived a life such as that at one time I thought I was damned never to lead.  
  
The final battle has been fought. We won, but in the war we lost some of our greatest people. Percy Weasley...he did not join us until the end, but died as one of our finest when he discovered it within him to abandon ambition. Cho Chang...a bright young girl, who was murdered when it was revealed that she had imprisoned some of Voldemort's closest men in a remote prison in Russia.  
  
Viktor Krum, who had incredible skills in transfiguration and was able to release many prisoners secretly from Azkaban when they were imprisoned there unjustly so that the Dark Lord could keep them out of his way. Seamus Finnigan...killed by Lucius Malfoy, only weeks after his aid in that dusty tavern. I never forgot his name after that.  
  
And then there was Harry Potter. I must admit that I let my past interfere in my judgment of him, for now that I reflect on the life that he led I know that he was one of the finest men I have ever known, and perhaps the noblest student I have ever had. He was the bravest of us all, I know. Even Dumbledore, who knew almost no fear, was hard to face death in the way that Harry did. But Harry died, and in doing so saved us all.  
  
His sacrifice...I have worked hard to make sure that it was not in vain.  
  
But of all things that happened then, I admit nothing, even the defeat of Voldemort, could compare to Sarah. She lived with me, unquestioning of those demons that still haunted me in the night, and over the years took care of me...and when she grew weak, I took care of her.  
  
Because Sarah was muggle, and did not live as long as I will. When time caught up with us, as weak and old as I became to her it was tenfold. We had one son, Lucas, who I am ever proud of. He has already married---to the daughter of Harry Potter. They have children, now. Sarah lived long enough to see them born, before she left me. I miss her and it is like a fire burning deep within me.  
  
I do not know how I live without her. Every day I work to combat the emptiness...I turn to her in the night, and she is not there. In the morning I wake and expect to see her smiling face, and it is only air that greets me. Sarah...Sarah who I have loved.  
  
But it will all be over soon. This time, I know not because I plan to take my life, but because I know that I am too old to live much longer. Lucas and Lily, who is like my own daughter now, stay with me as I grow weaker. My sight is too poor to read those old tomes in which I have written the processes for my many potions...my hands are too weak to brew those potions.  
  
I look over at Lucas, who is sitting next to Lily on the old leather couch. "Promise me, son." I whisper. He glanced over.  
  
"What, father?" he asks rising.  
  
"Promise me you will live life, Lucas. My one regret is that is a lesson I did not learn until I met your mother." I take his hand, and let it fall as the final life leaves me.  
  
I rise from my body, and I do not look back because I know doing so will cause me to stay. Slowly I walk, until I stand beside her. I knew she would be here.  
  
'Sarah...I have missed you.' I say as I place my hand on her face. She looks at me, tears gleaming in her eyes.  
  
'No, Severus, you have not. I promise you that I would stay with you forever...I was never one to break my word.' I laugh as I take her in my arms. I glance up when I hear him coming near...and it only right that he should be here also.  
  
'You have lived honorably...never forget that.' I glanced up at Harry, standing there. He smiles. 'I am thankful you were granted this small peace in life. You deserved it, Severus, more than anything I know.'  
  
As we are surrounded by the light, I hold Sarah close. 'Of course.' I say, closing my eyes. When I open them again I see those that died in the war, coming to greet me. James smiles, somewhat stiffly...I think it amuses me to find that even in death he cannot forgive our school days.  
  
And I know it is not only in death that I could find my peace...it is only when Sarah was by my side. She is here now, and we are together...together in life.  
  
Together in death.  
  
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Aww...I couldn't resist a Severus romance thing, these two are so cute together. A muggle, eh? That's great. Well, anyways, I hope that you like it. If I have made you cry, thanks...or I'm sorry, depending on how you feel about that sort of thing. As for me, I think I teared up a little...*sigh*, fine then, but you must know I love Snape and his tortured soul needed healing. Sarah was perfect for the job! Tee-hee...  
  
Well, please R & R, I like hearing peoples opinions, as long as they are good ones and not overly mean critical ones that are trying to rip my ears off...or something like that. 


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